


it's been a long, long time

by behradtarazi



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen Is A Trainwreck, First Kiss, Fuck Canon, Love Confessions, M/M, doing the work tom felton grant gustin and god have all been asking for, i love them, julian moves back to central, post-S3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 01:06:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18982051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/behradtarazi/pseuds/behradtarazi
Summary: barry and julian might work together even better this time around.





	it's been a long, long time

    barry hadn’t been too surprised when he heard that julian had moved back to london during barry’s unplanned sabbatical in the speed force.

    julian’s time in central city had been...traumatic, to put it lightly, and wanting to go home was perfectly understandable.

    but he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t miss the blonde, didn’t miss his snark and steady reliability and the electricity that raced through his system every time they brushed hands, just like it did when he ran - except it was a hundred times stronger.

    he knew that it wouldn’t be too hard for him to track julian down, to run over and reunite with him, but every time he was tempted to do just that, something stopped him.

it was the thought that julian was maybe better off without him. without the flash, without metahuman attacks, without all the chaos that that entailed. he deserved a break, deserved a chance to be simply another civilian again, if that was what he wanted. barry wasn’t going to ruin that for him.

no, he wasn’t. he loved him too much for that.

in fact, barry had almost managed to convince himself that he was completely fine with all of it, that he was completely over julian albert and that he  _ definitely  _ didn’t need to keep watching old musicals to cheer himself up, when he walked into his lab and noticed the new second desk.

the new second desk, right where julian’s had been.

the new second desk, organized exactly like his old coworker’s.

the new second desk, with julian albert sitting right behind it.

barry almost dropped his coffee, the surprise and shock clear on his face. this couldn’t be happening, julian had left. did he have a secret twin? or was he a shapeshifting meta trying to sneak into the ccpd? or - 

“hello, allen.” julian gave him a small smile, and, yeah, there was no way in hell barry was over him. damn that man and his beautiful eyes.

“julian! i - what’re you doing here?”

“well, someone had to make sure the ccpd could actually do their job,” he replied, and that was definitely julian, there was no mistaking it. no one else had mastered the ability to give that kind of arrogant response without being a complete asshole.

barry raced over and had julian wrapped into a tight hug before he could get another word out, and, to both of their surprise, julian hugged back, hands resting on barry’s back, close enough that the speedster’s breath hitched. 

now, barry had always been a bit of a romantic, and he sometimes saw love that wasn’t really there, but he would swear on his life that there was a spark - and that julian felt it, too, though that might have just been wishful thinking.

a moment later, julian pulled back, putting his hands in his pockets and glancing away. “i...i need to get going, i have some unpacking i need to get done before tomorrow, but, uh...maybe we could get drinks sometime?” he almost regretted the words the moment that they came out of his mouth, but he didn’t take them back, and that had to count for something, right?

smiling brightly, barry nodded. “sure, i’d love that!” he said, not missing the way that julian’s eyes seemed to light up at the positive reply. “does tomorrow at around eight sound good?”

“sounds perfect. i’ll see you then, allen.”

-

by the time barry arrived at the bar next day, julian was already halfway through his first drink. he looked over, giving barry a small smile and gesturing to the seat next to him, which he took. 

“hey, julian!”

“hello, allen.” there was a certain fondness in julian’s voice when he said allen, and it was starting to feel more like a nickname or term of endearment than barry’s last name.

“how’ve you been, man? haven’t heard much from you since you moved to london.”

that was true, and julian only partially regretted it - he had needed the space, a whole ocean of it, and he had needed the time to recover, too. but he’d missed barry (and the rest of the team), and now coming back just felt  _ right _ . it felt like coming home.

“i’ve been pretty good,” he said honestly. “london is...definitely not as stressful as central, but it’s not as exciting, either. i’ve missed this place.” he finished his drink, right before he paused, and then added, “missed you.”

barry almost blushed, giving him a soft smile. “i missed you, too - asshole comments and all.”

julian chuckled, and, god, if barry could bottle that sound, he would. “you haven’t changed one bit, have you?” 

“not really, no.”

“‘s almost comforting,” julian said, and barry might’ve been overthinking everything, but was he leaning in closer to him? “it’s just like the good old days.”

oh, fuck, julian was definitely leaning in. oh my god,  _ julian was leaning in. _

barry bit his lip, slowly growing more and more flustered. “just like the good old days,” he echoed, and julian’s soft smile in response almost killed him. jesus christ, barry was a wreck.

if he’d thought that he was a mess before, though, he hadn’t seen anything yet - because when julian finally,  _ finally  _ closed the gap and kissed him, barry almost fell off of his fucking stool.

barely scrambling back up to a sitting position, barry flushed bright red at julian’s laugh, running a hand through his hair and having to stop himself from burying his face in his hands. “shut up, albert,” he muttered, but julian only laughed at him more, blue eyes sparkling.

“i have to say, barry, that’s easily the biggest trainwreck -” barry cut him off before he could finish the sentence, grabbing his collar and pulling him into another kiss, deeper and definitely less disastrous than their first.

awhile later, barry pulled back, resting his forehead against julian’s, who gave him a small smirk. “maybe you should shut me up like that more often,” he said, and barry couldn’t help but laugh.

“you’ve got no idea how long i’ve wanted to do that.”

“oh, luv, i think i do.”


End file.
